Robert Parkinson Jr., chairman & CEO of Baxter International (NYSE:BAX), added 20 percent to his paycheck total from last year by cashing in on stock options for the first time.
Parkinson, 60, who earned $11.5 million last year, netted $14.1 million last month after exercising the options and selling stock.
He also boosted his stake in Baxter by 50,000 shares, taking the total to 391,545 shares, a Baxter spokeswoman told Crain’s Chicago Business – amounting to 0.1 percent of total shares outstanding, or about $21.3 million.
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Parkinson converted 650,000 options and sold off 600,000 at a strike price of $31.72 per share and exercise prices of more than $55 between Oct. 24 and Oct. 27.
Baxter boosted its 2011 earnings forecast last month after reporting strong third-quarter sales and earnings numbers.
BAX shares were trading at $53.60 as of about 12:50 p.m. today, up 0.9 percent.
HOLX jumps on Q4, FY2011 results
Shares of Hologic Inc. (NSDQ:HOLX) jumped nearly 10 percent after the women’s health giant reported a swing to black ink for the fourth quarter and full year.
The Bedford, Mass.-based company posted Q4 profits of $27 million, or 10 cents per share, on sales of $467 million for the three months ended Sept. 24. Full-year profits were $157 million, or 59 cents per share, compared to a loss of $62.8 million, or 24 cents, at the close of FY2010.
That sent shares up 9.9 percent Nov. 8 to $17.84, from a prior-day close of $16.23. Shares were still up 6.1 percent over that mark today, trading at $17.23 as of about 1 p.m.
Institutional investors like LeMaitre
Institutional investors have snapped up more than 334,000 shares of LeMaitre Vascular (NSDQ:LMAT), according to Seeking Alpha, amounting to about 4 percent of its 8.4 million shares.
They might be eyeing the new products the company has on tap for next year. Or they could be anticipating rising share prices after the company doubled its share repurchasing allotment yesterday; LeMaitre said it’s now authorized to buy back $10 million worth of its own stock.
The vascular device maker added 6.6 percent to its top line during the third quarter, reporting sales of $14.5 million, compared to $13.6 million during the same period last year. But profits dropped 19 to $1.2 million, or 8 cents per share, compared to $1.5 million, or 9 cents per share, in Q3 2010.
LMAT shares were trading at $5.66 today as of about 12:15 p.m., up 0.5 percent on the day.
Valuentum Securities is bullish on Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), based on the spread between its invested capital and the cost of capital, calling it "one of the most compelling valuation plays on the market:"
"What really gets us excited about Boston Scientific is its valuation as determined by our [discounted cash flow] process, which is why we are considering the firm," according to a Seeking Alpha report. "Boston Scientific’s 3-year historical return on invested capital (without goodwill) is 25.9 percent, which is above the estimate of its cost of capital of 8.9 percent."
BSX shares were trading at $5.91 as of about 1:15 p.m. today, up 2.8 percent on the day.
Color Leerink analysts impressed with Volcano
Leerink Swann analysts came away from the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics meeting in San Francisco "more encouraged than we had anticipated" about Volcano Corp.’s (NSDQ:VOLC)prospects.
“Specifically, we now believe that some unusual factors likely contributed to the Q3 2011 U.S. IVUS catheter sales slowdown – which should begin to mitigate in subsequent quarters and into 2012," analysts Rick Wise and Miroslava Minkova wrote in a note to investors. "And longer term, VOLC highlighted a good mix of evolutionary and novel products, which should further leverage its installed base of multi-modality consoles. Though none of these will be a ‘home-run’ by itself, in total, we believe these products should help VOLC sustain its double-digit sales growth profile."
The analysts maintained their "outperform" rating for the company.
VOLC shares were trading at $23.43 as of about 1:20 p.m. today, up 1.5 percent.
Analysts’ ups and downs
- Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN): Numis downgrades from "add" to "hold," sets target price at £0.58 (about 92 cents).
- Insulet Corp. (NSDQ:PODD): JP Morgan lowers price target from $25 to $24, maintains "overweight" rating.
- Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX): Canaccord Genuity maintains "hold" rating and $78 price target; J.P. Morgan reiterates its "neutral" rating and $79 price target.
